Tom Epstein returns to royal role at King Richard's Faire

Carvershire villagers and guests have been under the fair and noble rule of King Richard, better known as Tom Epstein for the majority of the year, for more than a decade.

Brittany Burrows

Carvershire villagers and guests have been under the fair and noble rule of King Richard, better known as Tom Epstein for the majority of the year, for more than a decade.

Epstein ascended to the throne at the 16th-century-style King Richard’s Faire 11 years ago after serving the monarchy as the royal cook, Bob Crumpet, for eight years.

“When they offered me the job as king, we came up with the back story that really I was the rightful king but they put me in the kitchen as a young man to protect me from plots to take over the realm,” he said.

Though he rules over a “kingdom” set in the past, Epstein lives most of his life very much in the 21st century. He is an environmental engineer and has worked for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management in various capacities for the past three decades and currently works on the department’s website. He has also been a resident of Carver for the last three years, living with the girlfriend he met at the fair several years ago.

His interest in the performing arts began in high school, where he acted in a number of different productions. During his time at Brown University, though, his studies took priority.

He started taking an interest in acting again in his early 30s as a creative outlet for his demanding job as an environmental engineer.

“Doing that sort of work, you are basically telling people to do stuff they would rather not do, doing inspections with companies, and basically butting heads and getting bad attitudes from people. It’s a stressful job,” he said. “I thought having the acting outlet again in my early 30s would be a good thing – and it was.”

He performed in a number of plays and musicals with the now defunct Cumberland Company in Rhode Island for three years. After only one visit to King Richard’s Faire, he auditioned and landed the role as the royal cook, and he has been with the fair ever since.

As King Richard, Epstein plays an important role in the realm, welcoming visitors, having his photograph taken and entertaining crowds in a number of performances. He performs weekends this year through Oct. 21

“The secret, if you want to have fun with a character, is it has to be you or some significant chunk of you,” he said. “I’m not really a fabulous actor. If I tried to be entirely different, it would be a real drag to do that for eight-and-a-half hours on any give day. Really, it’s just me turned up to ‘11’ with an accent.”

After ruling for more than a decade, Epstein says the job has gotten easier and become more a part of his life.

“I’m not really adopting a truly different character; the accent sort of becomes second nature after a while,” he said. “If I put on a costume and a crowd comes in, it is totally automatic at this point. It’s kind of cool. It surprises me sometimes.”

After 19 years with King Richard’s Faire, Epstein has dozens of stories, but the one that stands out the most to him was a moment during his last year as the royal cook. Barbara “Bodge” Burinski-Shelton played Queen Katherine until she lost her battle with cancer in 2002. She served as a great inspiration to Epstein.

“She was really inspiring in many ways,” he said. “She was a very gracious monarch.”

As the cast took the stage for a knighting ceremony at the end of the day, Epstein remembers seeing Burnski-Shelton knelt down next to a little girl sharing a genuine connection that moved him to tears.

“My costume as the king is even heavier than the cook, but we sweat. At the end of the day, quite often the only thing you can think of is getting into a shower,” he said.

“It was the end of the day, and I was particularly hot and I am following her, and all I am thinking about is getting out of costume, and she is at the bottom of the stairs talking to this little girl who had been at the knighting ceremony. It was a wonderful moment, and the kid was really connected with Bodge and vice versa. It was real. It was a real moment. I got totally out of my thoughts of being uncomfortable and wanting to go home and started to cry.”

It’s those moments of realness amidst the fantasy that keeps Epstein coming back year after year.

Epstein is joined this season by his long-awaited wife, Queen Anne, played by Charlston native Kelly Gariepy. The storyline that will be followed this year is the marriage of the monarchs and the welcoming of the queen.

For more information on the faire and all the new events planned for this year, visit kingrichardsfaire.net.

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